New Version of Outside In Image Export: Inbound Refinery includes Outside In Image Export 8.3.2, which is used for thumbnailing, conversion to multi-page TIFF files, conversion to PDF without third-party applications.

Concurrent Conversion: Inbound Refinery now supports converting multiple content items simultaneously when using any conversion engine that supports concurrent multiple instances. This helps to prevent one content item from monopolizing the system and speeds the processing of content items through the refinery.

EXIF and XMP Data Now Extracted and Available to Inbound Refinery: Inbound Refinery now extracts EXIF data from digital photos and XMP data from native digital asset files and passes them to the refinery. This data is displayed on the rendition information page under the Image Data tab. To enable searching for content items using information in the EXIF or XMP data, Oracle Text Search is required.

Dynamic Renditions: Inbound Refinery can now construct renditions dynamically, using metadata input when checking in a digital asset. For example, by using custom metadata fields in conjunction with custom rendition sets, text entered on the check in page can be overlaid as a watermark on a digital asset. Similarly, pixel height and width can be entered and used to create specific rendition sizes. When used in conjunction with the new EXIF or XMP data extraction capabilities, any extracted data can be used for watermarking, such as date/time stamps, camera or location data.

1.3 About Inbound Refinery

Inbound Refinery version 11gR1 is a conversion server that manages file conversions for electronic assets such as documents, digital images, and motion video. In addition to conversion, it also provides thumbnailing functionality for documents and images, the ability to extract and use EXIF data from digital images and XMP data from electronic files generated from programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and storyboarding for video. Inbound Refinery can be used for the following when running on either a Windows or a UNIX server:

To create thumbnails of files using Outside In Image Export. Thumbnails are small preview images of content.

To convert files to multi-page TIFF files using Outside In Image Export, enabling users to view the files through standard web browsers with a TIFF viewer plugin.

To convert videos to multiple formats for streaming and different playback or storage needs. Video conversion requires the third-party conversion software package FlipFactory by Telestream to be purchase and installed on a separate Windows server.

To convert images and graphics to different formats to meet display or print requirements.

To convert files to PDF (Portable Document Format), enabling users to view the files through standard web browsers with a PDF reader plugin (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader). Inbound Refinery has the following options for converting files to PDF:

Convert to PDF using third-party applications. When running on Windows, Inbound Refinery can use several third-party applications to create PDF files of content items. In most cases, a third-party application that can open and print the file is used to print the file to PostScript, and then the PostScript file is converted to PDF using the configured PostScript distiller engine. In some cases, Inbound Refinery can use a third-party application to convert a file directly to PDF. When using this option, Inbound Refinery requires a PostScript distiller engine, a PostScript printer, and the third-party applications used during the conversion.

Convert to PDF using OpenOffice. When running on either Windows or UNIX, Inbound Refinery can use OpenOffice to convert some file types directly to PDF. When using this multi-platform option, only OpenOffice is required.

Convert to PDF using Outside In. Inbound Refinery includes Outside In, which can be used with WinNativeConverter on Windows to create PDF files of some content items. Outside In is used to print the files to PostScript, and then the PostScript files are converted to PDF using the configured PostScript distiller engine. When using this option, only a PostScript distiller engine is required.

Important:

Third-party applications used in conversions, a PostScript distiller engine, and a PostScript printer are not provided with Inbound Refinery. You must obtain all third-party applications required for the conversions you want to perform, as well as a PostScript distiller engine and a PostScript printer of your choice.

Convert to PDF Using PDF Export. Inbound Refinery can convert directly to PDF using Oracle Outside In technology without the need of a third-party application. This facilitates conversion of some formats to PDF on Linux and UNIX platforms.

On a Windows platform only, the TIFF Converter option is used to convert TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files to PDF, including the following options:

Creation of a managed PDF file from a single or multiple-page TIFF file.

Creation of a managed PDF file from multiple TIFF files that have been compressed into a single ZIP file.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) during TIFF to PDF conversion. This enables indexing of the text within checked-in TIFF files, so that users can perform full-text searches of these files.

Tiff Converter is supported on Windows only.

Important:

Inbound Refinery requires CVISION CVista PdfCompressor to perform TIFF to PDF conversion with OCR. PdfCompressor is not provided with Inbound Refinery. You must obtain PdfCompressor from CVISION.

To convert files to XML (eXtensible Markup Language) files using Outside In XML Export, Search Export, and either the FlexionDoc or SearchML schema. In addition, the XSLT (eXstensible Style Language Transformation) feature can post-process the resulting XML document, transforming it to a different XML document based on your XSL (eXstensible File Language) file and validated against your DTD (Document Type Definition) or schema. XML Converter is supported on both Windows and UNIX.

On a Windows platform only, to convert Microsoft Office documents into HTML using Microsoft Office.

1.4 Inbound Refinery Conversion Options and Related Components

Inbound Refinery can be configured with a variety of options by enabling the proper components using Oracle Universal Content Management component technology. Most Inbound Refinery options require components to be enabled on each Inbound Refinery server provider and on the repository Content Server using the Inbound Refinery providers. The following tables list the components necessary for each Inbound Refinery conversion option and identifies on which server each component must be enabled.

Table 1-1 Inbound Refinery: Required for All Conversion

Component Name

Component Description

Enabled on Server

InboundRefinery

Enables Inbound Refinery

Inbound Refinery Server

InboundRefinerySupport

Enables the content server to work with Inbound Refinery

Content Server

Table 1-2 PDF Conversion: For Conversion to PDF Formats

Component Name

Component Description

Enabled on Server

PDFExportConverter

Enables Inbound Refinery to use Oracle OutsideIn to convert native formats directly to PDF without the use of any 3rdParty tools. PDF Export is fast, multi-platform, and allows concurrent conversions.

Inbound Refinery Server

WinNativeConverter

Enables Inbound Refinery to convert native files to a PostScript file with either the native application or OutsideInX and convert the PostScript file to PDF using a third-party distiller engine. This component is for Windows platform only. It replaces the functionality previously made available in the deprecated PDFConverter component.

WinNativeConverter offers the best rendition quality of all PDF conversion options when used with the native application on a Windows platform. Note that WinNativeConverter does not allow concurrent conversions.

Inbound Refinery Server

OpenOfficeConversion

Provides cross-platform support allowing Inbound Refinery to convert supported files to PDF using Open Office. Like WinNativeConverter, OpenOfficeConversion doesn't allow concurrent conversions, but unlike WinNativeConverter, it does support UNIX platforms.

Enables the content server to support digit asset management features. This component is highly dependent on the ZipRenditionManagement Component.

Content Server

DigitalAssetManager

Enables the user interface for digital asset management in tight integration with components used to create and manage renditions and zip file archives. This component is highly dependent on the ContentBasket Component.

Content Server

ContentBasket

Enables users to select renditions of content items and place them in a personal storage space called the Digital Asset Basket located under My Baskets.

Content Server

ZipRenditionManagement

Enables Content Server access to digital asset renditions created and compressed into a ZIP file by Inbound Refinery.

Content Server

Table 1-4 XML Converter: For XML Renditions and XLS Transformations

Component Name

Component Description

Enabled on Server

XMLConverter

Enables Inbound Refinery to produce FlexionDoc and SearchML-styled XML as the primary web-viewable file or as independent renditions, and can use the Xalan XSL transformer to process XSL transformations.

Inbound Refinery Server

XMLConverterSupport

Enables Content Server to support XML conversions and XSL transformations.

Content Server

Table 1-5 TIFF Converter: For Converting TIFF Files to PDF

Component Name

Component Description

Enabled on Server

TiffConverter

Enables Inbound Refinery to convert single or multipage TIFF files to PDF complete with searchable text.

Enables Inbound Refinery to convert native Microsoft Office files created with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Visio to HTML using the native Office application.

Inbound Refinery Server

MSOfficeHtmlConverterSupport

Enables Content Server to support HTML conversions of native Microsoft Office files converted by Inbound Refinery and returned to Content Server in a ZIP file. Requires that ZipRenditionManagement component be installed on the Content Server.

Content Server

ZipRenditionManagement

Enables Content Server access to HTML renditions created and compressed into a ZIP file by Inbound Refinery.

Content Server

1.5 Inbound Refinery Process Overview

Inbound Refinery refinery manages file conversions and provides thumbnailing functionality and serves as a provider to Content Server. When a file is checked into the content server, a copy of the native file is stored in the native file repository either on a file system or in a database. The native file is the format in which the file was originally created, for example, Microsoft Word.

If the file format is not set up to be converted, the content server can be configured to place either a copy of the native file or an HCST file that points to the native vault file in the web-viewable file repository. This means that the file is passed through to the library in its native format. Users must then have an application capable of opening the native file installed on their computer to view the file.

If the file format is set up to be converted, the content server creates a conversion job in its pre-converted queue. The content server then attempts to deliver the conversion job to one of its active refinery providers, which is a refinery that is configured to accept the conversion and is not busy. The content server sends the conversion parameters to an active refinery. If the refinery does not accept the job, the content server tries the next available refinery. When a refinery accepts the job, the content server then uploads a ZIP file, containing the conversion data and the file to be converted, to the refinery. The content server also places an entry in its RefineryJobs table, which it uses to track the conversion job. The refinery places the conversion job in its pre-converted queue.

The refinery then attempts to perform the specified conversion. When the refinery finishes processing the conversion job, it places it in its post-converted queue. The content server polls the refinery periodically to see if conversion jobs in its RefineryJobs table have been completed. When the refinery reports that it has finished processing a conversion job, the content server downloads any converted files (for example, a web-viewable thumbnail file and a PDF file) from the refinery, places the conversion job in its post-converted queue, and kicks off any post-conversion functionality as needed.

If a conversion is successful, the converted files, such as a web-viewable thumbnail file and a PDF file, are available to the content server's users through their web browser. In the case of an videos, images, or graphic files, additional renditions and rendition information are available on the Rendition Information tab of the Content Information page.

If a conversion fails, the content server can be configured to place a copy of the native file in the web-viewable file repository. In this case users must also have an application capable of opening the native file installed on their computer to view the file.

Scripting on this page enhances content navigation, but does not change the content in any way.